The cost of unemployment. It is horrific what we have become. This leaves me speechless with grief.

M L

20 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)

azblueskies

Posted - 02/22/2011 : 11:01:43 AM They have no conscience..they have no hearts...only large bank accounts...and their slaves have very deep pockets.azblue------------------------------------------------------------------So much to learn, so little time.

kkknitter

Posted - 02/22/2011 : 09:31:30 AM Reading Bob Herbert makes me want to cry. Why is nothing done to the crooks on Wall Street? And what the h..ll is wrong with the Republican Party? They are starting to sound like a broken record. Fiscal responsibility is good, but not if it has to come at the sole expense of the middle class. What about the top 1% do they not have a social conscience?

It is real, and it is happening in this country. It's far bigger a problem than shoveling sidewalks for $5 and eating at soup kitchens can cure - it's a disappearing middle class. And without a broad and thriving middle class to consume goods and services, a country cannot thrive. This is not good.

lella

Posted - 02/18/2011 : 2:50:27 PM Personally I know a lot of unemployed people in my county who are right at the end of their ropes. A close friend of a relative is so depressed that he isn't looking for work anymore. I think he's 55 years old.

Recently another of them, who was in his 60's, killed his terminally ill wife, notified the police that he would shoot anyone who came anywhere near their house, and then burned the house, in foreclosure from medical bills to the ground. He poured so much gas on the house that it was burnt to the ground. These are real people.

We have lots and lots of people who are suffering. I don't care if the letter is real or not. Many voiceless people are going through this.

"Had I used my college education to rip people off and steal from the elderly, poor, disabled and main street Americans I would be wearing different shoes now -- a petty king. Hard work, honesty, loving kindness, charity and mercy, and becoming unemployed and destitute unable to pay your bills are all considered foolishness and high crimes in America now. Whereas stealing and lying and cheating and being greedy to excess and destroying the fabric of America is rewarded and protected -- even making such people petty king and petty queens among us."

I've had these thoughts myself. We've had discussions with relatives about the things mentioned in this paragraph. Petty Potentates Indeed.

Posted - 02/18/2011 : 07:43:35 AM Last night I was reading the paper and saw an article about employeers stating the unemployeed need not apply for the listed job. Darn it, I was going to bring the article home so I could quote it! Anyway, it did state that this practice is NOT breaking any laws. It stated that this is going on with both employeers and placement agencies! I'm sort of sure it was an AP article.

Isn't it something that we all assume there are laws and then we find out that no, there is no law covering something we always assumed to be written in stone! I guess what bothers me is that we need laws to make people just do what is right!

Sharon in NW PAI always wanted my own library but I didn't realize it would be all knitting books!

flicka

Posted - 02/17/2011 : 11:07:06 PMoriginally published by mouse:

quote:I don't think it matters whether the letter is *real.* The situation is all too real.

It does matter, but to me it is written so well and the situation is so heart-rending that it haunts me. So I am glad to have read it.

flicka

mouse

Posted - 02/17/2011 : 6:57:37 PM I don't think it matters whether the letter is *real.* The situation is all too real.

........................................................................................................................You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. Antoine de Saint Exupery

shaggy

Posted - 02/17/2011 : 2:29:29 PM Don't worry about it Milinda, we know the only perfect person around here is me. I really didn't want to use the smilie. tee hee

Hey, we still don't know if it is a hoax or not. I still have my boxing gloves on.

quote:After news accounts about the practice and requests from concerned lawmakers, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has jumped in, trying to figure out whether it's a widespread tactic that could violate federal job discrimination laws.

Commissioners at an EEOC hearing Wednesday said they are investigating whether excluding the unemployed may have a greater effect on blacks, Latinos and other ethnic minorities that tend to have higher jobless rates. There are no specific legal protections for the unemployed.

Nancy J.

"Learning how to knit was a snap.It was learning how to stop that nearly destroyed me." Erma Bombeck

Milinda

Posted - 02/17/2011 : 1:04:30 PM I felt compassion for the situation. I was trying to find out if the letter was for real, but thought that the situation of the 99ers was the pertinent fact. I'm sorry I posted it to begin with. If certain people thought the letter was a hoax, jump on me politely but don't get this way to others because you think I posted something stupid.

So, never mind, then. I'll be more circumspect on what I post in the future.

M L

kkknitter

Posted - 02/17/2011 : 04:44:11 AM I must confess that when I read Milinda's post I thought something was off. But, because Milinda felt compassion for this guy and wanted to draw our attention to this article, should not make us jump all over each other. We are probably suffering from a too long winter at this point, but it is suposed to be nice today and tomorrow, so go out and get some sun to help lighten your mood.

Kristina

Shalee

Posted - 02/16/2011 : 8:59:40 PM Paying it forward tomorrow.

I have a friend that is rather broke at the moment and her washing machine died dead last week. She needs a new machine. I told her that if they can't afford it I'll take her and buy them a new one tomorrow.

Like I said, pay it forward. She helped me many years ago and is a person who helps others. Yes, I did help her once before, but they paid me back. This time I can afford to help without her needing to reimburse me in the future.

No pats on the back wanted. After all, what are friends for. If it weren't for this thread, no one would know what I'm about to do.

Sharon in NW PAI always wanted my own library but I didn't realize it would be all knitting books!

mouse

Posted - 02/16/2011 : 8:13:40 PM Atavistic was right - it's not at all illegal in the U.S. to consider for employment only people who already have jobs, and to advertise accordingly.

I too wondered whether this particular letter was "real"; there was something about it that didn't ring quite right for me, although I couldn't put my finger on it. I decided it really didn't matter, because it's true for all too many people, including people I know personally. Misfortune often tends to follow misfortune.

And yes, people do tend to get very isolated with long term unemployment - it creates an awkwardness that many people have difficulty overcoming.

........................................................................................................................You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed. Antoine de Saint Exupery

shaggy

Posted - 02/16/2011 : 7:40:03 PM

quote:Originally posted by mokey

quote:Originally posted by AtavisticJerks. Glad there are apparently none in Canada.

I can guarantee there's one teaching in D.C.

Brought to you by the tongue in cheek-y monkey---------------------------------------------------------------------

Mokey, I think that remark was uncalled for.

shaggy

every dollar makes Betty smile

flicka

Posted - 02/16/2011 : 5:30:45 PM Sharon, if you are still reading, thanks for chiming in. I do think there is a need to be skeptical about things we read on the internet, and that the type of investigating that Milinda is doing (checking Snopes, writing the blogger) is helpful.

Please know that I will not flame you. You gave your opinion in a considered manner and shared your personal history, which gives validity to your opinion, and I appreciate that.

flicka

purlthis

Posted - 02/16/2011 : 5:26:50 PM Mokey, we don't all live in Canada. Canadian law is not universal, nor does it apply to the majority of us, in the U.S., but apparently you forgot. Again.

Rachel------------------------------------------------------As I get older, I prefer to knit. Tracey Ullmanhttp://purledthis.blogspot.com/ UPDATED! WITH PICS!

Milinda

Posted - 02/16/2011 : 4:23:13 PM

quote:Originally posted by mokey

quote:Originally posted by AtavisticJerks. Glad there are apparently none in Canada.

I can guarantee there's one teaching in D.C.

Brought to you by the tongue in cheek-y monkey---------------------------------------------------------------------

:: That is totally not cool, Mokey.

M L

mokey

Posted - 02/16/2011 : 4:07:13 PM

quote:Originally posted by AtavisticJerks. Glad there are apparently none in Canada.

I can guarantee there's one teaching in D.C.

Brought to you by the tongue in cheek-y monkey---------------------------------------------------------------------

Milinda

Posted - 02/16/2011 : 3:47:50 PM I have checked Snopes.com and written to the blogger on Huffington. So far, I have not been able to locate anything that disputes this letter. Be that as it may, one thing I can assure you, the letter is obviously written by a very depressed person. The despair is there for those who wish to see that.

In this country, President Reagan spearheaded the shut down of any facilities for the chroinically mentally ill. But anyone can fall into a deep depression at any point in life. We can continue to pretend this is not a problem. We can deny that a person could be so down and out that he/she would give up. But until you have been in that situation, be careful about brushing off the topic as a problem someone else suffers from.

But to think that friends don't begin to fall away after one has experienced chronic unemployment, well, that is denial. People run out of encouraging things to say. They are afraid they will catch it, too, this disease of unemployment. Many of us are a paycheck or two away from this.

The playing field was leveled after this last financial collapse, savings, investments gone. So, yes, I know many people in desperate situations, their one most valauable item, their home, no longer worth what it was once on the housing market.

I know plenty of people who can't get any kind of job. The area I live in, a huge amount of people lined up for 200 temporary service jobs for the summer at the river front park. The shelters are filled. The food banks serve people like any of us, down on their luck. It may be more convenient for us to pretend this couldn't happen to us, but it could and it does. It's especially daunting for anyone older and with physical limitations.

M L

Atavistic

Posted - 02/16/2011 : 3:33:56 PM

quote:Originally posted by mokey

Not biting, Aavistic. If you want a piddling contest, buy your own beer.

You posted something about a legal issue. Youwerewrong. You're not going to defend yourself or try to prove your point? Fine. It's just one more time Mokey Proclaims Her Thoughts as the Truth and Then Runs Away When Her Reality is Questioned.

And by the way, it's ATAVISTIC. I don't call you Monkey, so get it right.